National Football League

Jets WR Clowney 'shocked' by Twitter hacker

Published Nov. 25, 2009 11:46 p.m. ET

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David Clowney might have tweeted for the last time. The New York Jets wide receiver said Wednesday that he was stunned after someone hacked into his Twitter account earlier this week and sent out a series of vulgar messages. "I was very shocked," he said. "There was nothing I could do about it." Clowney has had his Twitter account locked since the obscene tweets went out to friends and fans Monday, and the receiver said he might not use the social networking site again. "I don't know," he said. "I might not even deal with it anymore. You go through unnecessary drama." The Jets issued a statement Monday night alerting fans that a "rogue tweeter" was sending out expletive-filled messages under Clowney's account. "I can trip about certain things, but I wouldn't dare in my life ever do something like that," he said. Clowney, who has more than 6,700 followers, confirmed the messages were not from him - including a direct message in which he allegedly suggested a fan to "kill yourself dude." "I can't even say half the stuff that was sent as direct messages to other friends of mine," he said. "I got text messages that there was some vulgar, X-rated stuff sent to female friends of mine and they were just texting me like, 'What are you talking about?' I had to explain to them that it wasn't me." The offensive tweets have since been removed from Clowney's home page. He also denied speculation by some that he was really behind the messages and was just trying to cover his tracks by claiming he was hacked. "If anybody knows me, you know I'm a clown," Clowney said. "I have fun and smile. I would never have any reason to write all those things." Jets officials confirmed that Clowney was getting massage therapy and was later on the phone with the team as the tweets were being sent, so it was clear he wasn't responsible. The team, which encourages its players to use social-networking sites, said it also had Twitter shut down an account Monday night in which someone purported to be owner Woody Johnson. The Jets have had similar incidents with people pretending to be Thomas Jones and Bart Scott. Clowney, a frequent poster, has had previous Twitter-related trouble. He was suspended by coach Rex Ryan for one game earlier in the season when he admitted posting that he was unhappy with his playing time in the team's game against New England in Week 2. "That got out of hand, so to even go back and write something as vulgar as all that stuff, that's guaranteed probably getting kicked off the team," he said. "If you're that stupid to sit down and write all of that stuff in public and send all of those messages, that would be just stupid and ignorant."

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